Grades v. Jazz 02/06

[Bricklayer]

P.S. BTW...Mateen??? WTH?

Salmons ( C ) -- had a couple of hits, including a three, in the mid first, then took a seat as BJax entered. Not sure how happy he was about that as he was generally having a solid first half. I say solid...I had to do a double and then a triple take on John's first half numbers, and finally decided to largely discount them, because John did NOT seem to be playing a first half at a monster triple double pace (9pts 5rebs 5ast), but there it was. Saved me from a very confused grade however by completely disappearing after half. Was overpowered inside by Harpring for a long stretch in the 3rd with the two SFs playing PF in competing smallball lineups. Gave us pretty much nothing back the other way that quarter, and I was waiting for the inevitable 4th quarter explosion that has been his pattern for weeks now. Did hit a big three in the mid 4th to answer a Korver three, but other than that, just nothing. In fact I think those were his only points after half.

Thompson ( B- ) -- started with major energy trying to impress Webb. Some good, some dubious plays resulted with Jason doing the play too fast thing again, but having some strong takes along the way. Some questionable 3rd quarter foul calls put him in foul trouble and sent him to the bench, and Jason was very unhappy and could have easily gotten a technical again. One of these days he's going to get one unless he calms down. Worked hard in the 4th trying to contain Okur, but Mehmet was very effective all night from inside and out (most of the nigt that was Spencer's man). On the other hand Paul Milsap was not a factor at all, and while Jason's numbers were fairly shrugworthy (14pts 7rebs on 5-12 shooting) Milsap's ineffectiveness could well have been largely due to having another, bigger, hustle player battling him for the ball all night. Jason had an open breakway opportunity courtesy of great Bobby hustle play with less than 2 minutes to go -- as it turns out it mght have won the game for us. But Korver did a great job of hustling back, got in front of Jason, and Jason was out of control and just ran over him for th critical offensive foul. Finally fouled out in the final 10 seconds after Kevin's failed attempt to draw a foul resulted in a wild chuck and Jason had to foul the Jazz after they came down with the rebound.

Hawes ( B ) -- we obviously stressed Hawes as a Milleresque high post passer in the early going, and he had two nice ones early, although the 2nd one did not result in a basket. Combined with Jason to win the early battle inside with first half contributions across the board and especially on the glass, where he was repeatedly tipping what he could not control. Padded his shotblocking stats on Jason Collins as well. Was a major problem for the Jazz on both ends as rthe Jazz are undersized + wihtout maybe their two best inside players. Did have some problems contianing Okur inside on the other end, as Mehmet showed surprising explosiveness around the hoop and found ways to get in behind Spencer. Picked up two quick 3rd quarter fouls as both our young bigs came out of the break hacking, and pretty sooon both were on the bench as Mikki Moore became our only big on the floor. Got smallballed to the bench as Natt forgot how we got the lead in the 4th and went to Cisco as a PF again. Specner was finally back in in the final three minutes, bad did little, and left Okur just open enough to tie the game with a huge three at the :50 second mark.

 

[Bricklayer]

Martin ( A- ) -- was trying to force too much and draw fouls early, and off to an 0-4 start in the first rush of this one. Began to get to the line after renewing his acquaintance with Ronnie Price, and his familiatiy with Price's game seemed to make Ronnie one of the few guys that he has shown he could cover this year. Splashed in a couple of jumpers late in the half, but never terrible involved or much of a part of the first half push. Cranked it up after half, and drew a lot of fouls tonight, but was uncharacteristically shaky form the line and kept on splitting 1 of 2s. For the first time in a long time, he started off the 4th quarter strong and kept it going, initially just by recieveing open three point looks, but eventually bringing the full portfolio (while Sloan mysteriously insisted on trying to cover him with, ahem, Kyle Korver (at least now we know where Natt got his coaching acumen from). Threw a bad inbounds pass that was picked off by Price, but Bobby stole it right back to save a critical late possession. But after playing this one all the way through, being the man right through the 4th quarter, still once agian ended up with questins about his clutch ability as he flubbed the critical possessions of the endgame. First it was Deron Williams who got in front of Kevin on our play to try to break the tie with 30 seconds to go, resulting in Kevin getting called for a charge and us losing the absolutley critical possession -- the "tempo" as they refer to it when the other side steals the initiative in chess. Then down 2 we came back to Kevin again to try to tie it with 10 seconds to go, and of course rather than just trying to find a good shot or find a teammate, he once again tried to draw the foul, did not get the call (not should he have, Okur was just standing there, and the end result was just a desperation heave, a Korver rebound and 2 FTs, and Jason fouling out. Game over. At some point he's going to learn to actually try to take a good shot at the end of games rather than constantly trying to play the refs. Not sure how many times this same thing has to happen before he figures that out.

Udrih ( D+ ) -- was just blown by by Deron in the early going, did get one strip and a nice pass or two but was generally exposed as the weakest link -- just about the only King not able to step up his game as everybody else was ridig high on the energy of the crowd/moment. Of course also about the only King facing a legit star player across from him tonight, so that makes it harder. Came up with a nice pass on the break in the third, but did not last long in the face of Bobby's throwback play and his own foul trouble -- see back in the day we had two PGs better than Beno, and one of them was back in the building tonight. Returned in the late 4th as Natt decided that rather than put a full sized lineup out there, he would respond ot Cisco's foul toruble by going even smaller with Beno and Bobby out there together. Deron's eyes must have gotten big as saucers, as he quickly beat Beno on a big three point play (to be fair just before he beat Bobby with one too). And then it was back to the bench as Natt finally realized that he had a tall guy on the bench and there was no rule against using him. A bit of atricky grade here, as the minutes were so limited and Beno actually did a few good things while he was out there. But Deron just chewed him up the other way and it was another one of our 34pts their PG to 2pts our PG outings that kill us.

Cisco ( C+ ) -- came in for Beno in the early going, and I think that move briefly befuddled the Jazz as they looked confused and scrambling on defense as he quickly buried a three and pointed at Webb in acknowledgement. Repeated attempts for Martin to operate as a high post passer hitting Cisco on the cuts did not work. In the second half did a better job inside against Harpring than Salmons with his better length, but got into foul trouble playing the bulk of his minutes at PF. Only hit 1-7 shots after the initial three, and after he picked up his 5th Natt actually consented to go back to a full sized lineup down the stretch.

BJax ( A- ) -- lively and wanted to compete early back in front of old friends. Started off the 2nd quarter making back to back hustle plays, stealing an inbounds pass and converting, and then stealing another pass intended for Harpring. Played the 2nd quarter like he was 8 years younger, which always kind of raises a question --- so you can actually play this way just whenever you are inspired? Even banged and slowed Deron somewhat in the second. Stole, and deserved, the bulk of the minutes at the point tongiht, and was back in fairly quickly after half Toward the end of the third quarter was twice able to fake Jazz off their feet on the perimeter and draw fouls to keep us close. Had a great hustle play in the 4th again, restealing the ball from Price from behind after Kevin had thrown a bad inbounds pass that Price had picked off. Got beat by Deron on a continuition play in the late going that hurt, only a possession or two after Deron did the same thing to Beno. But made a great hustle steal from Deron at halfcourt in he final two minutes, leading to what looked like a sure breakway for Jason, before Korver got in the way to draw the charge. Only real negative here was that he could not hit threes. Otherwise this was a true bulldog energizer bunny throwback game for Bobby as he tried to give Webb a win on his night.

 

[Bricklayer]

Moore ( A- ) -- brought in in the early 2nd quarter in what looked to be some sort of sick joke of a PF tribute to Webb. So he quickly hits a long jumper to give us a 29-28 lead, and flips his double three signs because he's good like that. And then Mikki went mad, clearly deciding to show Webb who the real sheriff in town was, grabbed baords, ran the floor, was bouncing around full of energy. Carried the same energy into the third quarter when he was quickly back onto the floor with the young bigs in foul trouble, for one long stretch as our ONLY big manm. *gulp*. His incompetence began to slowly reassert itself as he fumbled balls, was a tad late to block shots, got a golatend, etc., and the Jazz even delivered the ultimate insult when they decided they could afford to put Collins back in as their only big to match Mikki as ours. What a big man battle! Mikki v. Collins, mano a mano. Best game we've seen out of Mikki forever. Webb who?

[yt=Ryan's Webber Tribute Pt 1]ibO-cLXF_Ug[/yt]
[yt=Ryan's Webber Tribute Pt 2]JR4VkqF-3sg[/yt]

 

[Nighthawk1]

I wish we could combine BJax and Thompson options. I just flipped a coin both men played with heart and hustle tonight.

 

[kingzallday]

Either Kevin or Thompson....

 

[vikinginferno]

Mateen for that huge smile . Did anyone else see how big his mouth went?

 

[PurpleHaze]

Most memorable image and sounds for me tonight:

Doug Christie getting a rousing, rocking welcome by 17,000+ fans, as he reacted emotionally, shedding a tear at end of his talk about his teammate, #4.

Clearly cascading down from high in the Arco rafters - BOOS directed at Joe and Gavin Maloof as they were introduced by the G-Man.

Finally, C-Webb laying his head, clasping his hands against his Kings jersey as it was about be hoisted in retirement. Oh, what a night - and Vlade you next pal!

 

[SacTownKid]

Most memorable image and sounds for me tonight:

Doug Christie getting a rousing, rocking welcome by 17,000+ fans, as he reacted emotionally, shedding a tear at end of his talk about his teammate, #4.

Clearly cascading down from high in the Arco rafters - BOOS directed at Joe and Gavin Maloof as they were introduced by the G-Man.

Finally, C-Webb laying his head, clasping his hands against his Kings jersey as it was about be hoisted in retirement. Oh, what a night - and Vlade you next pal!

Not a ton though. Kind of classless IMO, it was a nice ceremony overall though.

 

[Bricklayer]

Not a ton though. Kind of classless IMO, it was a nice ceremony overall though.

It was enough, and rather frightening at the shortsightedness of some Sacto fans. These men control whether the kings are going to stay in Sacramento or not, and you publicly embarrass them? Fortunate indeed for Kings fandom that I am not a Maloof, because I might well choose to have the ultimate last laugh after such a display. Give a smirk and a wave to the booers from my nice cozy new courtside seats in Anaheim.

 

[Larry89]

I thought it was funny that Peja in the video to webber called him a Rolla

 

[BritishColumbia]

Not a ton though. Kind of classless IMO, it was a nice ceremony overall though.

Agree ... that was the worst moment to boo owners. I hate to say that but IMHO it was disrespectful to Webb and classless overall.

 

[MoneyMike916]

Most memorable image and sounds for me tonight:

Doug Christie getting a rousing, rocking welcome by 17,000+ fans, as he reacted emotionally, shedding a tear at end of his talk about his teammate, #4.

Clearly cascading down from high in the Arco rafters - BOOS directed at Joe and Gavin Maloof as they were introduced by the G-Man.

Finally, C-Webb laying his head, clasping his hands against his Kings jersey as it was about be hoisted in retirement. Oh, what a night - and Vlade you next pal!

i thought i heard boos over the radio. thought it was just static

 

[Widowmaker2k]

One last grade for CWebb? I thought his speech was very heartfelt, and I forgot how much I missed seeing those guys out there on the court at Arco (even if they weren't playing). I was however, a little surprised seeing Mateen out there, but hey, even if he didn't play, he was a part of that team too. In Chris's list of people to thank, did he thank the Maloofs? I can't remember.

 

[Rockmeister]

How about an all Chris Webber theme this time?

 

[PurpleHaze]

One last grade for CWebb? I thought his speech was very heartfelt, and I forgot how much I missed seeing those guys out there on the court at Arco (even if they weren't playing). I was however, a little surprised seeing Mateen out there, but hey, even if he didn't play, he was a part of that team too. In Chris's list of people to thank, did he thank the Maloofs? I can't remember.

No, he did not thank nor mention the Maloof's. Obviously, he thanked dozens of people from each individual family member to teammates, coaches, etc etc etc. G-Man reminded in owners intro that they had offered to personally mow his lawn if he'd resign, but C-Webb didn't acknowledged them from long note in hand he was reading off of. There MUST be a reason although he said, "I'm sure I'll forget some people to thank..."

 

[mac]

I thought he mentioned the maloofs somewhere after the forgot to thank bit. Like together with doug christie and peja and mike and all

 

[KiNgMyC]

I was there, Webber clearly mentioned them along with Petrie. I also agree that it was extremely disrespectful to boo the Maloofs.

 

[ycfan93]

Anyone else at the game notice when they first introduced the old players, they were all seated together behind the basket, they inroduced Scot, Vlade, then skipped the camera right past Darrick Martin and went to Mateen. I guess no love for D-Mart.

 

[Merdiesel]

I was there, Webber clearly mentioned them along with Petrie. I also agree that it was extremely disrespectful to boo the Maloofs.

Totally agree...

I might disagree with the Maloofs on some things (firing RA), but these guys were a BIG part in turning our team around. Tonight was an amazing night. I will never forget it. We will never have or see a squad like that again.

 

[swisshh]

I have no problem with booing the owners. It's a big stage and a large opportunity to make a statement to ownership of how deep the distrust grows.

Highlight: Pollard looking like devil incarnate.

 

[Bricklayer]

I have no problem with booing the owners. It's a big stage and a large opportunity to make a statement to ownership of how deep the distrust grows.

Highlight: Pollard looking like devil incarnate.

You do not WANT them to know how deep the distrust grows, or whatever.

Listen, if you have a chance to have a conversation with them, even to rant at them on radio, at least there is an argument, a chance to make a point, to demand an improvement. But when you boo somebody, in a setting like that to boot, all that is is "**** you". Only in this case you don't have the power to **** these guys over, but they absolutely have the power to **** over you and everyone else on this board by taking their toy elsewhere. What binds them to that city anymore? The fans always used to pat themselves on the back about how special they were, but as of this season the fans are the absolute worst in the league at showing up. So what now? The economy is lousy and messing with their last best chance to build an arena, nobody is showing up, the team is a mess. Why would the Maloofs possibly want to stay once you tell them you don't want them anymore? I wouldn't. So if you want to boo them kindly do it from the safety of your own living room rather than putting all of us at risk.

I have had plenty of problems with a lot of what the Maloofs have done and would love to explian a few things to them, but I'm not foolish enough to taunt a man with a gun to my face, and in an inappropriate venue to boot.

 

[D-Rock]

No, he did not thank nor mention the Maloof's. Obviously, he thanked dozens of people from each individual family member to teammates, coaches, etc etc etc. G-Man reminded in owners intro that they had offered to personally mow his lawn if he'd resign, but C-Webb didn't acknowledged them from long note in hand he was reading off of. There MUST be a reason although he said, "I'm sure I'll forget some people to thank..."

And then Gavin was like, "Umm, we'd like to give you this, uh, piece of African American art..."

That seemed so awkward.

BTW, speaking of boos, I heard a lot of them in the background for most of the players who were introduced at the ceremony. I think there might have been plenty of Laker fans in attendance.

 

[Mad D]

For the people who missed the ceremony, here is a photo I took tonight. Sorry it was taken on an average digital camera and not a nice Nikon SLR, it will have to do.

 

[Stojakovic]

For the people who missed the ceremony, here is a photo I took tonight. Sorry it was taken on an average digital camera and not a nice Nikon SLR, it will have to do.

That's awesome D, thanks.

 

[Andre87]

I wonder why the hell Spencer was benched for most of the 2nd half until like the last 2.30 minutes and t played with this small line-up with beno being invisible out there

 

[mac]

I wonder why the hell Spencer was benched for most of the 2nd half until like the last 2.30 minutes and t played with this small line-up with beno being invisible out there

Your answer friend lies in that guy we have pretending to be our head coach

 

[Nighthawk1]

Just listen to his post game interview... Said he has no reasoning involved in subs or the lineup just goes with what feels right lol

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Great ceremony last night and just about everybody had something to say about it always put the words "good ol' days" somewhere in their sentence. Compared to the other games I'd been to this season and last, there was definitely more energy...I guess because more of the die-hard loyals had come back for a chance to feel it again. Every time that cover of SI hit the screen the place just exploded.

And yes, let me say something about the booing. Classless is too nice a word for that. Last night was neither the time nor the place for that. I was a little shocked to hear it quite frankly. When fans cheered just about everything and everybody who walked into ARCO or appeared on screen, you boo the owners? Seriously? I mean, I joked to some folks I was with after Gary Payton nearly got a standing ovation that Shaq could have walked in there and the place would have gone nuts to applaud him. But instead peeps booed, as Brick notes, the people who control whether this team stays here. Nice...

It was a great night and nice to see the current men wearing the home whites decide to show up and compete for 48 minutes.

 

[Kings Faithful]

I wonder why the hell Spencer was benched for most of the 2nd half until like the last 2.30 minutes and t played with this small line-up with beno being invisible out there

Because our coach sucks.

 

[LoungeLizard]

And then Gavin was like, "Umm, we'd like to give you this, uh, piece of African American art..."

That seemed so awkward.

BTW, speaking of boos, I heard a lot of them in the background for most of the players who were introduced at the ceremony. I think there might have been plenty of Laker fans in attendance.

Actually, that's not very awkward. If you know about CWebb, you know that he is an avid collector of African American artifacts and African American history and seeing as how February is Black history month this is quite appropriate. Infact, a couple of years back there was a big piece on NBA TV about CWebb's collection. From Wikipedia:

Chris Webber has a personal collection of African American artifacts which he began collecting in 1994. As soon as he entered the NBA, he started researching on how to collect artifacts. He began by contacting a broker in Washington and purchasing two slave records. Webber believes that these artifacts are a reflection of his beliefs and aspirations. He initially collected them as encouragements to face life obstacles. However, he had no intentions on exhibiting them until the growth of his collection prompted additional storage. His collection includes an original 1901 publication of an autobiography by Booker T. Washington, various documents, letters, and postcards signed by Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X. When not on public exhibit, the artifacts are stored at the Sacramento Public Library's Archival Vault. In previous years the Chris Webber Collection has previously been featured in Crocker Art Museum and Wayne State University. More detailed information can be found on his official website
On June 28, 2007, Webber unveiled his collection of African American artifacts during the Celebrating Heritage Exhibition at Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. During a news conference, Webber said he believed that children can learn from these artifacts, "Hopefully, when children see them they will see there is no excuse for us not to be successful. There's no excuse not to find something that you love to do. There's no excuse to not work hard at it."

Maybe you were just referring to the transition as being awkward, but just thought I'd shed some light on why the gift.